Chinese alleged spy’s identity revealed as MPs raise fears over Beijing’s reach in Britain

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. ‘had penetrated every sector of the UK economy, spying, stealing intellectual property, influencing and shaping our institutions’.” He added: “So will the government commit to putting China. Mrs Braverman said she had made the decision to exclude Mr Yang from the UK because his presence “posed a threat to our national security”, adding: “That decision was based on the advice of MI5, and I’m very pleased that the High Court has upheld that decision.” She added: “Isn’t it regrettable that it has taken a high-profile case, public outcry, and opposition MPs dragging the minister to the chamber to finally get the government to commit to implementing the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, a scheme that we enacted and that was ready to go at the time of the general election?” open image in gallery Prime minister David Cameron and Xi Jinping visit a pub in 2015 at the height of the ‘golden era’ in Anglo-Chinese relations Tom Tugendhat, a Conservative former security minister, said MI5 had made it “very, very clear” that FIRS is “not worth having” if China is not in the enhanced tier. Labour’s Paul Waugh, the MP for Rochdale, reminded the House that former Tory prime minister Theresa May was once praised by Chinese state media for “sidestepping questions on human rights” on a visit to China on which he accompanied her in his former role as a journalist in the parliamentary lobby. Mr Philp warned: “Chinese infiltration of public organisations is of grave concern, but it’s not just public organisations such as government: it’s also businesses and universities that are being systemically infiltrated, and often intellectual property theft is at the heart of what the Chinese government are trying to achieve.” He added: “Last year, there were multiple attempts by Chinese companies to get hold of sensitive technology, and MI5 estimate that 20,000 individuals have been approached by Chinese agents who are trying to influence them or forge contacts in some way, and it’s likely that, at some point either in the past or in the future, every member of this House will be contacted or attempted to be contacted in one form or another.” But Mr Jarvis said that the government “will challenge where we must in order to keep our country safe, compete where we need to, and cooperate where we can, for example, on matters like climate change”, adding: “That is acting in the national interest.”